This article is a part of a series describing the installation of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) on a Windows Server 2008 with the newly released SQL Server 2008. Always do a full installation of SharePoint since it gives you flexibility and allows you to change the role of every server as you want. The Web Front End installation doesn't allow you to switch the role later on. This is especially important for production environments.

Note that you can download a SharePoint 2007 installation DVD including SP1 from Microsoft. You need an installation source including SP1 in order to install SharePoint 2007 on a Windows Server 2008. Since the release of other Service Packs for SharePoint 2007 it's a good idea to regularly check the Microsoft download center or to create your own slipstream copies for SharePoint 2007 including all the updates needed.

Although the installation itself an easy task you may encounter problems like "Failed to connect to the database server or the database name does not exist." or "An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server.". Make sure you can ping your SQL Server and Active Directory, that your firewall is disabled for your development environment and that you have enabled named pipes in SQL Server configuration.

Click Yes and proceed to the next screen. Select "No, I want to create a new server farm".

Now you have to enter the name of your SQL Server (This is usually your system NAME or ip address or Default Database Server Name [thx to Veer]) and the MOSS farm account credentials (In my case aglaser\MOSSfarm).

If you are getting the error

"Failed to connect to the database server or the database name does not exist. Ensure the database server exists, is a SQL Server, and that you have the appropriate permissions to access the database server. To diagnose the problem, review the extended error information located at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\LOGS\PSCDiagnostics_8_13_2008_11_19_34_359_1143906485.log. Please consult the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard help for additional information regarding database server security configuration and network access." or

"An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server. When connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)" you have to make sure you

-have deactivated your firewall or opened the ports needed and

-that you have a working network connection to your Active Directory server. Try to ping your AD server.

Specify the port number for Central Administration and the authentication provider. Wait until the configuration wizard has finished.